smith on WFNZ right now

[tailg8or]

If we do end up playing against Smitty...and should he score...

 

I pray to God he pulls his pants up to his nipples during his celebration. 

 

:lol:  Thank you.  I needed a good laugh. 

[MadHatter]

I really hope he goes to a contender, gets a ring and plays at BOA next year. 

 

After he catches his first pass and glares over to the Panthers bench while he spins the ball, I will stand and applaud. 

 

Please feel free to switch your allegiances to which ever team Smitty goes to.

[Jangler]

CJ is comming up

[heel31ok]

It's very much the case.

 

You can try and spin this as something personal all you want, but it isn't.

 

don't need to try at all.Giving him the business and just doing business is two different things. The constant pounding of the all business drum just resounds with protesting just a little too much.

[Proudiddy]

I normally agree with you, but just can't on this one. Aside from Smitty taking his massive contract and agreeing to a pay cut, not restructure, there is no way this was going to end well. He was owed massive amounts of money with large cap hits for the next few years. This really sucks but was largely unavoidable IMO.

 

 

They want to turn the team leadership fully over to Cam and Luke, and the reality is they are the future of this team.

 

Smitty, as much as we all love him, wasn't the kind of guy that would fade into the background. You'll notice, on the flipside, there's no talk about cutting Thomas Davis.  Davis is much more the type that would accept dropping into the background and letting Luke take charge.

 

I hate it as much as anyone, but I acknowledge the pragmatism.

Could you guys please leave your logical explanations and reasoning out of this...  I am trying to stew in this rage.

 

I know the reasons, but this one just hurts.  I'm angry.  I'll have to get over it, but I'm not happy about it and I'll probably have some beef with Gettleman for awhile - although, I'm sure that doesn't have much affect on him, lol.

 

I will say this though, there are three things that concern me from this debacle -

 

1)  This is the second player, and a leader, that has come out and said they didn't like Gettleman very much, with Gross saying it jokingly and now Smitty saying it wholeheartedly...  I don't think that does much for us with players around the league that we may be looking to sign, so that concerns me.  He seems to rub a lot of guys the wrong way, initially at least.

 

2)  If you're going to make a bold move like this and humiliate, then unceremoniously cut the greatest player in franchise history, you better have a "wow" move to follow up behind it.  Instead, he cuts Smitty, has Nicks in for a visit, who then immediately leaves to go to Indy, and then we bring back in Donald "Hands of Stone" Lafell for a visit after it pretty much being accepted that he wasn't in the plans going forward.  Oh, and then we missed on our top OL target to a division rival and bring in possibly the crappiest safety on the market from a division rival in Harper.  I thought we couldn't have a worse day than yesterday...  I was wrong. 

 

3)  Lastly, even if we all agree, something had to be done to remedy the situation with Smitty - which I don't believe he had to be removed to turn the locker room over to Cam and Keek - then, why not give him his just due?  Hold a presser.  Let him say his piece.  Treat him with the respect and class he deserves as our greatest player to ever suit up as a Panther.  Instead, he talked about him in the past tense before even talking to him or his agent, dangled him for a trade, then released him and put him on the street.  That's garbage.  And it reflects badly on us as an organization if that's how we treat "that" guy.  JMO...

[tailg8or]

So you'd rather Smitty win a ring rather than the Panthers win one?  I can't get with that logic. 

 

Of course not silly.  LOL  Just being realistic with my expectations until we find an o-line, WRs, safeties, etc.  As our leader said, we are a team in transition. 

[tailg8or]

Please feel free to switch your allegiances to which ever team Smitty goes to.

 

No thanks.  Been a season ticket holder since day 1.  How bout you?

 

Notice I said the first pass.  Trust me, I won't be the only one clapping.  It is more of a respect thing.  What would you propose ... boo him instead.

[teeray]

So basically he is handling this better than most of us

[Johnny Rockets]

People act like Smitty being forced out is unprecedented. Not counting BS 1-day contracts.....

 

Favre couldn't retire a Packer

 

Dawkins couldn't retire an Eagle

 

Montana couldn't retire a 49er 

 

Emmit Smith couldn't retire a Cowboy

 

Rice couldn't retire a 49er

 

T Brown couldn't retire a Raider

 

P Manning couldn't retire a Colt

 

OJ couldn't retire a Bill

 

Steve Smith couldn't retire a Panther

 

etc.....

 

Sure many of them were free agents but they didn't want to leave, they were no longer wanted no matter what they did for the organization over the years. It has gone on in every sport since the beginning of time and will continue to go on especially in the salary cap era.

[Mr. Scot]

Could you guys please leave your logical explanations and reasoning out of this...  I am trying to stew in this rage.

 

I know the reasons, but this one just hurts.  I'm angry.  I'll have to get over it, but I'm not happy about it and I'll probably have some beef with Gettleman for awhile - although, I'm sure that doesn't have much affect on him, lol.

 

I will say this though, there are two things that concern me from this debacle -

 

1)  This is the second player, and a leader, that has come out and said they didn't like Gettleman very much, with Gross saying it jokingly and now Smitty saying it wholeheartedly...  I don't think that does much for us with players around the league that we may be looking to sign, so that concerns me.  He seems to rub a lot of guys the wrong way, initially at least.

 

2)  If you're going to make a bold move like this and humiliate, then unceremoniously cut the greatest player in franchise history, you better have a "wow" move to follow up behind it.  Instead, he cuts Smitty, has Nicks in for a visit, who then immediately leaves to go to Indy, and then we bring back in Donald "Hands of Stone" Lafell for a visit after it pretty much being accepted that he wasn't in the plans going forward.  Oh, and then we missed on our top OL target to a division rival.  I thought we couldn't have a worse day than yesterday...  I was wrong. 

 

Lastly, even if we all agree, something had to be done to remedy the situation with Smitty - which I don't believe he had to be removed to turn the locker room over to Cam and Keek - then, why not give him his just due.  Hold a presser.  Let him say his piece.  Treat him with the respect and class he deserves as our greatest player to ever suit up as a Panther.  Instead, he talked about him in the past tense before even talking to him or his agent, dangled him for a trade, then released him and put him on the street.  That's garbage.  And it reflects badly on us as an organization if that's how we treat "that" guy.  JMO...

 

I get the emotion, and as a fan you can afford to have that.  When running the team is actually your job, not so much.

 

As to the points...

 

1) Teams like the Patriots pretty regularly dump players in a less than gentle manner (ever seen Belichick look warm and fuzzy) but players still want to play there because they win.  That's the goal here too.

 

2) You're not gonna get every guy you go after, especially in a cap situation like we have now (not Gettleman's fault, by the way).

 

3) I'm sure they'd have loved for this to end better, but he comments that came from Smith's agent made it pretty difficult to do things that way.

 

Worth remembering they tried to trade him before the release.  had the comments out of Smith's camp not hindered that effort, who knows what could have been?

[C47]

 for now that does not seem to be the case.

 

Bingo, listen to the people in the know. This wasn't a business decision at all. A business decision would be asking the dude to take a pay cut or restructure first. Not cutting the guy after things became personal, without having a replacement secured. This is bad business exemplified....

[Razeyfingers]

 

3)  Lastly, even if we all agree, something had to be done to remedy the situation with Smitty - which I don't believe he had to be removed to turn the locker room over to Cam and Keek - then, why not give him his just due?  Hold a presser.  Let him say his piece.  Treat him with the respect and class he deserves as our greatest player to ever suit up as a Panther.  Instead, he talked about him in the past tense before even talking to him or his agent, dangled him for a trade, then released him and put him on the street.  That's garbage.  And it reflects badly on us as an organization if that's how we treat "that" guy.  JMO...

 

and here's the worst part. The Giants mightve been able to afford that type of publicity. The Panthers dont have enough national publicity in the first place.

 

Who wants to sign here now?

[heel31ok]

I get the emotion, and as a fan you can afford to have that.  When running the team is actually your job, not so much.

 

As to the points...

 

1) Teams like the Patriots pretty regularly dump players in a less than gentle manner (ever seen Belichick look warm and fuzzy) but players still want to play there because they win.  That's the goal here too.

 

2) You're not gonna get every guy you go after, especially in a cap situation like we have now (not Gettleman's fault, by the way).

 

3) I'm sure they'd have loved for this to end better, but he comments that came from Smith's agent made it pretty difficult to do things that way.

 

Worth remembering they tried to trade him before the release.  had the comments out of Smith's camp not hindered that effort, who knows what could have been?

at that point why would SS let himself be traded to anyone. He took control and can go for his own deal to a team he wants to go to.

[Mr. Scot]

at that point why would SS let himself be traded to anyone. He took control and can go for his own deal to a team he wants to go to.

 

Likely making less money than he would have made if he were traded under his current contract.  Solid move there.

 

Smith still could have been traded had the panthers gotten an offer they liked.  Didn't happen.